An influential figure in the high-performance marine world, Motion and Spectre catamaran-brand founder Jay Pilin has died. A longtime Southwest Florida resident, Pilini was 64 years old when he passed away on Christmas Eve.
With his Spectre catamaran brand, Jay Pilini created a slew of memorable high-performance catamarans. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Ryan Beckley, the owner of the Kinetic Animation graphics shop in Bradenton Fla., who got to know Pilini during the years through their shared involvement in the offshore racing and high-performance pleasure-boating worlds.
“Jay was a long-time part of the Southwest Florida powerboating scene and a good dude,” Beckley said “He founded Motion in the 1980s and Spectre in the mid-to-late 1990s, then later founded Pilini Powerboats, which also built center consoles, in the early 2000s. The 25 Motion cats he built were great in offshore racing’s S and C classes, and his 35 Motions were great in the triple-outboard Pro Stock, Modified and C and D classes, Later, his Spectre cats ran well in the S and P classes. And his 30-, 32- and 36-footers were awesome all-around pleasure boats.”
“In my opinion, his 30-foot outboard-powered cats were great all-around choices very early in the outboard-powered, sport cat game” he added. “They were well built and well-outfitted with amenities. To this day, they are still sought after four four-stroke outboard conversions.”
The former head of APBA Offshore LLC, Michael Allweiss credited Pilini with making a significant impact on the sport.
“Jay, along with his friend Ray Hanke, was instrumental in creating, promoting and managing the Bracket classes for the St. Petersburg offshore races in the late 1990s,” Allweiss explained. “He deserves a ton of credit for what that type of racing is today.”
The 34-foot Spectre eventually became the foundation of what is now the Statement Marine 350 catamaran.
The Motion and Spectre brands have a storied place in offshore racing history. Photo courtesy Chris LaMorte.
As the editor of Powerboat magazine from 1993 to 1999 and an offshore racer during his editorial tenure with the publication, speedonthewater.com contributor Eric Colby knew Pilini from the pleasure-boating and competition worlds. Their paths crossed frequently, and they developed a friendship.
“On September 11, 2001, as I watched the tragic events of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center unfold on TV, my phone rang,” Colby, now the offshore racing editor for speedonthewater.com, recalled. “It was Jay Pilini calling to make sure I wasn’t on one of the planes because he knew I traveled extensively for work back in those days. It was an unexpected call from someone who played a key role in the early days of performance catamarans but preferred to stay behind the scenes.
In 2020, Waves And Wheels gave a 36-foot Spectre catamaran a completely new look.
“Pilini founded Motion Powerboats in the 1980s and then Spectre in the following decade,” Colby continued. “The 30-foot Motion and 30-foot Spectre were the primary competition for the 28-foot Skater in the Stock class in offshore racing in the 1990s. That competition drove Skater and Motion/Spectre to improve their products. While Douglas Marine, manufacturer of Skater high-performance catamarans, deserves all the accolades it has earned, it could be argued that Motion/Spectre’s challenges to the throne in the early days of outboard-powered performance cats made both companies and their products better.”
Another marine industry friend and colleague, Jason Saris of Performance Marine in Upstate New York also remembered Pilini fondly. He described late boat-builder as a “totally honest man.”
“Jay was an innovator who—at one time—built the only cat that could compete with a Skater,” Saris said. “He was also one of the few guys back in the day who knew how to build a boat that wouldn’t break.
“We beat his 36-foot without mercy, bent motor mounts, won the national championship, you name it,” he added. “And we never hurt that boat.”
A successful high-performance catamaran builder, Jay Pilini was a longtime member of the Southwest Florida go-fast boating community
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